It’s a curse. Skra’s mishap with an outsider

PGE Skra Bełchatów has one of the worst seasons in the history of the club. The recent results of Skra Bełchatów make play-offs seem less and less likely. They were looking for a breakthrough in the match against Cuprum Lubin, 14th in the table.

Skra Bełchatów could win with Cuprum Lubin 3:0. She succumbed to rivals in a tie-break. “It’s better not to say anything”

Skra Bełchatów fully controlled the course of the first set against Cuprum Lubin. The team led by Andrea Gardini quickly gained a two-point advantage and did not allow the opponents to reduce it. Skra had a seven-point lead over Cuprum at 19:12 and held it until the end, winning the set 25:18. In the second part, Skra also gained two spare points, but Paweł Rusk’s players managed to react to it. Bełchatów were even losing by five points, but they turned the set in their favor and won 25:21 after a fierce ending.

The beginning of the third set was much more balanced, although after it Skra Bełchatów had two or three points more than Cuprum Lubin. This state of affairs lasted almost until the very end, when Andrea Gardini’s players were leading 20:18. From that moment on, the match was even (22:22), and in the end of the set the Lubin team turned out to be more effective and won 25:23. Cuprum began to gain more and more power in the fourth set and managed to make up for the four-point loss to Skra. In the end he gained two spare points and thanks to the 25:23 win he led to a tie-break.

Cuprum Lubin started the tie-break by scoring a point after their own service. PGE Skra managed to respond to this and had a two-point advantage, but it melted quite quickly. The Lubinians took the lead at 9:8 and maintained the advantage until the end. The key moment was the video verification at 13:12 – first the judges checked whether Mateusz Bieniek had touched the ball at the block, and then it turned out that Kajetan Kubicki had wrong hands in the second line, so the point was scored by Skra. Skra had one match ball, but Bieniek served in the throw-in. Eventually, Cuprum Lubin used the fourth match ball and won 19:17.

“If you’re talking about Skra Bełchatów, it’s better not to say anything” – said Polsat Sport commentators after the match. The defeat after the tie-break makes PGE Skra Bełchatów’s infamous streak increase to seven matches without a win. The last win of Bełchatów in PlusLiga took place on December 22 last year in a clash with BBTS Bielsko-Biała (3:2) – since then Skra has lost to Stala Nysa (2:3), Trefl Gdańsk (1:3), Asseco Resovia (0:3), Projekt Warszawa (2:3), Barkom-Każany Lwów (0:3) and Ślepski Malow Suwałki (0:3).

Currently, Skra is in the 11th place in the league and for six rounds until the end of the main phase loses eight points to the place giving promotion to the play-offs. Cuprum is 14.